Learn Chinese Vocabulary

I recommend five things for learning Chinese vocabulary:

1.  Context and Exposure



-      See or hear the vocabulary used in context 


Sample contexts:reading material, audio, video, conversation


-      Sometimes you can guess meaning from the situation.


-      What type of word is it (noun, verb, adjective)?


-      Look at the words around it.


-      Try to read or listen to as much Chinese as possible



-      Choose from a variety of sources 
 

     



2.  Pictures and associations


- Sometimes seeing groups of related words can help






3.  Understand Word Parts (Chinese character’s radicals)


Example:

-       Standing person (亻)，if the word have this radical, that means this word about people.

-       Water (氵)， if the word have this radical, that means this word about water.




4.  Recognize collocations (words that go together)





-  Some words are commonly used with other words






5.  Consider connotations and multiple meanings of words


-       Some words can have many different meanings


Example:  rì 日, sun or date